THE PARENTS of ex-University of York student Neil Entwistle have spoken for the first time about their son’s impending trial for the murder of his wife and child, just as Entwistle has been returned to jail after a psychiatric evaluation determined he was not suicidal.

Clifford and Yvonne Entwistle, who have previously declined to comment on the incident, recently claimed in an interview with the Worksop Guardian that their son “is innocent, totally 100 percent innocent”, adding “every second of every minute of every hour of every day we think of Neil. If it wasn’t for family and friends, especially friends who are remarkable people we would not be able to face each day”.

Entwistle 28, who is charged with the shooting of his wife Rachel and nine-month old daughter Lillian Rose in the US town of Hopkington, Massachusetts, was recently returned to jail following a brief period in a psychiatric unit, after a psychiatric evaluation certified that he was not suicidal. He was originally transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital after a suicidal letter was discovered by officials. The letter said that he had nothing to live for and he wished for his ashes to be scattered over the graves of his wife and child.

Entwistle has recently been returned to jail after a brief period in a pyschiatric unit, having been refused bail.

Since the bodies were discovered just over a year ago on January 22 2006, the case has seen mass media coverage in the UK and across the Atlantic. As Nouse originally reported in February 2006, Entwistle fled from his home in the United States after the murders, and stayed at his parents’ house in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. He was later extradited to face charges of murder after investigators claimed he had become the only suspect in the case.

Prosecutors believe that he committed the crimes after amassing debts of tens of thousands of dollars and attempting to hide a secret life of business scams in the field of internet pornography. A spokesman representing Rachel’s parents, Joseph and Priscilla Matterazzo, made a statement on behalf of the family, describing their disbelief that “somebody we loved trusted and opened our home to could do this to our daughter and granddaughter”.

The accusations have been rebuked by Entwistle, who claims that he returned home from an errand on the morning of 20 January 2006 to find his wife and daughter dead in one of the family bedrooms. He claims that he then drove to the house of his wife’s parents only to find it empty, after which he drove to Boston airport and boarded a flight to Britain.

Further developments in recent days have seen the admission by officials that a second person’s DNA has been found on the weapon originally used as justification by the prosecution for Entwistle’s guilt.

Defence lawyers have attempted to persuade the courts that a bail release would be justifiable on the conditions that he remains confined to his parents’ house, wears a GPS tracking tag and contacts UK and US authorities on a daily basis.

This appeal was turned down after Assistant Director Attorney Michael Fabbri said that allowing the previously unemployed IT worker return to Britain would allow him too much freedom to escape: “opening the door to 20 or 30 countries in Europe”.

The trial which was due to begin in April of this year has now been put back to October. Of this, Entwistle has said he has no concern about it being held at a later date.

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